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Monday, April 30, 2012

Preface: (yes, this blog has a preface. I'm aware that that's slightly pretentious.)

I wrote this blog post at a coffee shop, between shoot number two and shoot number three on my Sunday afternoon. Instead of showing you a photo today, I'll be sharing this post.

I am grateful to them by default.

Grateful to them for trusting me to point the camera at then.

But then they do things, say things,

that make me feel completely and utterly indebted.

As Nicole, Kyle, their two pups, and I strolled through Major's Hill park,

I was overcome by that feeling of happiness that I get when I shoot couples.

That sense of knowing that I'm doing what I was meant to do.

Like I said, I was grateful to them by default.

But then this happened...

"I baked you some cookies!"

I was sure Nicole meant Kyle (you know, maybe as a reward for spending a precious weekend hour taking pictures in the park with us...), but she looked right at me, waiting for my response.

She said it again, "I baked you cookies! I read your blog and I thought you mentioned that you like cookies!"

I am writing this, with a happy heart, and the taste of chocolate chips on my on my lips, hoping to always remember exactly what it feels like at this very moment, to feel so loved, and so in love with what I'm doing.

I hope to never forget this feeling (& this taste....god these cookies are deelish).

In a straight-up nutshell, all this to say that I enjoy using my spare minutes wisely, writing little notes to myself, you know...for safe-keeping. ♥

P.S. On a completely unrelated note, Weezy had his first bath today. He was such a good boy and we survived :)

P.P.S. Weezy has his first day of puppy school tonight! We have our treats, our leash, and everything ready to go :) Wish us luck!

P.P.P.S. Okay, getting out of hand with the P.S.'ing...but I just wanted to note that this is my last day of the 30 Days of April Challenge! I've so enjoyed this journey through April and I still can't handle the fact that May will be upon us in the morning...maybe because it's still Winter outside.

It's weird actually, I've never shot at Brittania Beach! That is, until Nikki and Barry suggested that as a spot for their shoot. It was such a gorgeous morning, and Brittania gave me tons of places to work with :)

What can I say, I'm up to about 10-15 shoots a WEEK, my emails practically MULTIPLY whenever I answer them, and in my spare time, I play wife to a certain Beans, and mommy to an eleven-week old puppy.

That being said, somehow I am making time to watch Jasmine Star's seminar on shooting editorial weddings and getting them published, on CreativeLive. I have become completely enthralled with this course, and I'm reminded of what it feels like to learn, write, and think actively about the direction of my business.

All I'm wishing for right now...is that WPPI 2013 will hurry up and get here :)

P.S...Beans thinks I have this bad habit of trying to speed up life, and in a way he's right, I mean I have so much going on this year and next, that I wouldn't want to skip a second of it. But c'mon...a girl is still allowed to wish for Vegas, right?

Saturday, April 28, 2012

Last night, Ryan and I spent an hour apart, at home, getting all the things done that were burdening us (well, let's say some of the things, rather than all), so that we could turn off the computers, put away the phones, and cuddle up on the couch to try and watch a movie.

I say try because, we often fail at watching movies. We have very different taste...and without the pressure of watching a movie with other people (where you know, we can't really just decide to turn it off), we rarely make it past the first hour.

All this to say, I went to bed last night with a sense of calm, a sense of peace, about where we are in this current moment. Engaged, in love, living in our first home, raising the cutest little puppy, at the beginning of our careers, together.

So today, there's not much to say other than that I've enjoyed fixing myself the perfect cup of hot chocolate to enjoy on a lazy Saturday morning, 100% stress-free :)

Friday, April 27, 2012

After winning the draw for a free engagement session at the January Ottawa Wedding Show, we sat down at Starbucks to chit chat about her wedding plans, but I had no idea how the conversation would turn out.

She seemed a little nervous to tell me that she was actually having a civil ceremony in a few short weeks. I proceeded to ask her if she was looking to do engagement pictures soon then, and she said something along the lines of "kinda sorta..."

You see, Joelle and Mark were scheduled to get legally married at City Hall, but say their true "I do's" on the sandy beaches of Punta Cana, Dominican Republic. Well...we obviously just became best friends because, hello, I'm getting married there too!!

So here was the plan: instead of an engagement session, Joelle wanted me to photograph her civil ceremony, and then here's the best part...I'll be going to the DR with them in January to photograph their real wedding! AHHH!!!

I'm so excited to share some of my absolute favourites from our morning together ♥

Congratulations Joelle & Mark, you make a gorgeous couple and I feel SO honoured to be following you to the Dominican to photograph your (second) big day ♥

Thursday, April 26, 2012

I met her as a client, and within ten minutes, it felt like we had been friends for years. I'm actually impressed with Angie and I for managing to stop laughing and chit chatting long enough to actually get a couple images ;)

Check out my faves from our young at heart session:

My favourites, obviously. Girl, you're gorgeous!

LOL she forced me to let her duck face in at least one photo. What can I say, we understand each other.

Wednesday, April 25, 2012

Most of the time I say things like "okay now get closer! closer! even closer!" during an engagement session, however...I barely had to say anything like that to these two lovebirds. Closer was their default...and photographing them was unbelievably fun (and easy!).

I simply can't wait to share these photos with you, so without further adieu...Ali & Justin:

Fave...

Omg I just love them. Did I mention that already?

P.S...my bestie, Shannon, just told me (over the phone this morning), that I've been slacking on posting photos from my recent sessions. So I'm here to say that I'm going to try and do better :)